Frances writes on next Sunday’s readings:-
Our readings for the beginning of Advent all share ‘time’ features, something which is very relevant to us as we get swallowed up in all the preparations for Christmas: have I remembered all the presents; what a hassle shopping is; what culinary triumph will I be expected to come up with this year; who will come to stay and so on. That sense of urgency is present in all three readings too, although with rather different emphases and meaning.
Our reading from Isaiah (2:1-5) is about expectation of the final coming of the Lord to reign supreme in Jerusalem, a time of universal peace, a time when all the nations round about – usually oppressors of Israel would accept the God of the Jews and worship in his temple. Whilst our reading is full of joy, certainty and hope we must remember that this prophet was writing in the mid to late 8th century BC when Assyria was becoming every more powerful and indeed would occupy the northern kingdom of Samaria and enslave all its citizens. Despite all this, Isaiah remained confident and trusting in Yahweh, full of hope in the ultimate triumph of God. Stressful times, we must remember, are also times for vision and not just fear and hassle.
Our reading from Romans (13:11-14) is of quite a different character and comes from the hand of a Paul confident that the reign of God has come in Jesus Christ and who, writing to the Christians of Rome offers words of stern teaching on the appropriate moral behaviour to be expected of those awaiting our final salvation in Christ. The fact that he writes such a stern admonition to Christian converts is very significant, for clearly Paul has heard and seen much in Christian behaviour which is still in need of radical reform and the first Christians no doubt found it difficult to appreciate that espousal of the way of salvation in Christ was about far more than intellectual assent of the new faith or rejection of their former paganism; they had to undergo a dramatic change in their day to day behaviour whilst still living cheek by jowl amongst their pagan neighbours for whom moral rectitude was not a high propriety and would still have been part of that society. No drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. A real and visible change of lifestyle was required.
All of which got me thinking! How much do we expect the Christmas event and our membership of it to change our lives? Some of us may indeed make rather fatuous New Year’s resolutions which will be forgotten a couple of weeks down the road. But the call to Christian discipleship isn’t into that; it calls for us to refocus our lives now, during Advent as we approach the Feast of the Incarnation, of the God who became human for us and calls us to share divinity with him! Paul’s list of unacceptable ways of living may remind some of us vividly of Christmas parties past – and best forgotten; and how many of us once the festive season is over will expect to return to the old and familiar, glad that’s all over for another year?
Paul’s Letter to the Romans along with our gospel from Matthew (24:37-44) recognises our continual unawareness and even unwillingness to turn our lives around as we await our God. In those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept all away.
Jesus illustrates this need for radical change; metanoia, by use of the starkest of parables: ‘if you had knowledge that a burglar was about to break into your house and steal your goods, you’d make damn sure you were alert and ready for him, armed to the teeth, wouldn’t you!’ How true, and we too need to rethink our preparations for this great festival lest its real significance pass us by and it becomes just one more secular- pagan opportunity for overindulgence in one form or another. Taken out of its original context the sharpness of this gospel passes us by, but we have to remember that these words were said by Jesus in Jerusalem, where he had gone to be crucified – fixed the mind, doesn’t it!
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